Archives: Dispatches

On February 12, 2025, the Chinese Ambassador to Germany published an article in the business newspaper Handelsblatt titled “Protectionism is Out of Step with the Spirit of the Times” (保護主義不符合時代精神). The ambassador argued that China remains open to foreign business and urged more German investment. He celebrated the success of China’s DeepSeek (深度求索) AI foundation model, arguing that German startups should pursue opportunities in China for cooperation, partnerships, and capital. The article also attacked what it called European “protectionism,” a criticism of the EU’s October 2024 tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.

The Chinese ambassador to Germany published a commentary in the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung on July 24, 2025, the opening day and closing day of the 25th EU-China summit in Beijing. The piece, titled “The Common Interests Between China and Germany Far Outweigh Their Differences” (中德共同利益遠大於分歧), rejected the EU’s characterization of China as partner, competitor, and systemic rival — a framework established in the European Commission’s 2019 Strategic Outlook — calling it “inconsistent with facts and self-contradictory” (既與事實不符，也自相矛盾). The ambassador also commented on the war in Ukraine, writing that China’s position emphasized dialogue and negotiation as the only viable way out, while noting that China had launched a “Friends for Peace” group at the UN with participation from some European countries — though it was unclear which countries from the EU were involved in the group, which had primarily drawn participation from the Global South. The 2025 EU-China summit, which marked the 50 years of EU-China diplomatic relations, was scaled back from two days to one at Beijing’s request.